Dr. Ellen McGarity-Shipley became a MSSU Scientist in 2024, shortly after starting the position of Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. The MSSU supported her with letters of support for grants, which were instrumental in securing funding.
Tell us a little about yourself and your research within the Maritimes?
I’m an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University and my research focuses on healthcare system improvement, particularly integrating social determinants of health into clinical care.
These are critical factors that influence health but are often overlooked. My work in social prescribing aims to ensure that when needs such as food insecurity and financial challenges are identified in primary care, people are connected to appropriate supports.”
I am currently co-leading a province-wide effort to design and evaluate social prescribing in primary care across Nova Scotia, engaging community organizations, healthcare providers, patient partners, and researchers in the process.
What does patient-oriented research mean to you, and how did you get interested in it?
I became interested in POR through my social prescribing work about five years ago. When you’re designing healthcare system improvements, it just doesn’t make sense to do it without the input of the people who will be impacted. For me, POR means creating solutions that people actually care about—designing improvements that are meaningful and will truly help.
Can you provide an example of working with patient partners and how it changed your research approach?
Our Co-Design Team, which includes patient partners, meets monthly to guide every aspect of the project.
We didn’t just update them on decisions—we asked them how to spend new funding, and their input directly shaped our budget priorities. They even asked to serve as interviewers in our study to make community members feel more comfortable, which we embraced by adding them to our ethics protocol. They’re now part of our interview team.
How has MSSU supported you in your patient-oriented research journey?
The MSSU has been very, very supportive from the start. From guidance on how to engage patient partners effectively and preparing for the first meeting to recruitment and letters of support. I also completed the Patient-Oriented Research Practicum to strengthen my skills.
What advice would you give to other researchers who are new to patient engagement?
Think of patient partners as true members of your research team, not just people you survey or consult briefly. Depending on the area of research, engagement can look different. This requires flexibility and a willingness to be vulnerable. You may get feedback that challenges your assumptions, but that’s where growth happens—for you and for your research.
Have you seen a shift toward SPOR principles in the research community?
It really depends on area of research. In health system research it was immediate that we need to include patient partners, community, but in physiology it’s not there yet. There’s still a fear of bias in the hard sciences., so there is some push back that way. But I think involving patients even there is important—like asking whether a study protocol is ethical from the participant’s point of view.
Final thoughts: Is the extra time and complexity worth it?
Absolutely. You uncover things you would never have thought of on your own. It does take more time, and funders need to account for that, but the value to the research is immense.
Interested in participating in the interviews for this study? Check out the patient engagement opportunity.
